Algerian state media said that the country’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune received with great sadness and sorrow the news of the passing of Algerian football legend Rachid Makhloufi, a player in the historic National Liberation Front team, coach of the first team, and former president of the Algerian Football Federation.

Tebboune offered his sincere condolences to the family of the deceased and to the Algerian football family .

With the departure of the legend Rachid Makhloufi , only Dahman Dafnoun and Mohamed Maouche remain from the historic National Liberation Front team.

Makhloufi is one of the brightest stars of the French club Saint-Etienne. After his football career as a player ended in 1970, he moved into the world of coaching, where he supervised the Algerian national team , with which he won the gold medal at the 1975 Mediterranean Games in Algeria against France (3/2 after extra time), and the gold medal at the 1978 African Games by defeating Nigeria 1/0.

The deceased was also a member of the technical staff of the Algerian national team in the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain .

In addition to the Algerian national team, the deceased previously coached Bastia in France, Nejmeh in Lebanon, and Marsa in Tunisia.